The mishaps of frumpy shoppers in fancy stores

I don’t know if any of you know this but we moved 3 days before Halloween. During the landscaping of our yard they cut the cable so we had to call Comcast to get a new one installed, they said they had to do it Wednesday or we would have to wait until November 12^th……well Paul can’t live one day without Cable so we had to move 3 days before Halloween. Did I mention that I was throwing a party for about 40 people the Friday before Halloween…..so needless to say it was a stressful week, but I pulled it off. So when my mom asked me if I wanted to go to San Francisco for a couple days’s to do some Christmas shopping I happily said yes.

I thought it was going to be a vacation, relaxing, eating great food, and maybe even see a movie. I knew I was in trouble when I got in the car with my mom to go to the airport and she started reading her list….it went on and on, and that’s when it hit me……we are shopping for 30 people!!! Then after she finished reading the list she said…” you know how we are both trying to loose some weight, well I was thinking maybe we should just eat lunch everyday and nothing else.”….so the great food was cut by a third. Suddenly it dawned on me this was not a vacation at all but a business trip, there would be no relaxing, not as much eating as I would have enjoyed (call me a pig if you like, but that is what vacations are for) and there would diffidently not be any movies, I forgot my mom doesn’t see them.

When we got to my parents house in San Fran we put down our bags, went to the bathroom and then my mom said “let’s go to Macys”. So we were off. We first tried the Lexus but the battery was dead. So then we tried the mini van (which smelled like rotting carcasses and sour milk) but its battery was also dead. Last but not least it was the Maida…a stick shift…in San Francisco. I was slightly terrified as I pulled out of the driveway onto the steep hills of San Fran. Our first stop was the Men’s Macys to look for shirts and ties. There are 11 men in my family to shop for and my mother likes to get them all a shirt and a tie. Now your thinking ….no big deal, grab a couple of shirt and a couple of ties and your set. But no you’re wrong, mother carefully picks out a shirt she likes, and then she tries to figure out which brother its best suited for …..She then gets out her list of sizes, and sometimes she even pulls out her little measuring tape to make sure the sleeves will fit just perfect. Then we try to find a tie….really I found this to be the most painfull thing about this trip. My mom takes the shirt around to the dozen or so tables of ties (each has about 100 ties on them) she picks up the ones she likes, puts them up to the shirt, keeping her favorites to compare to the other ties on the next table. It really was amazing to watch the thought she puts into each shirt and tie. Amazing and maddening. That night we shopped for five hours, we got home at 7 and watched some Jeeves and Wooster in her bed and when to sleep.

The next day we were downtown at 10:00 sharp (sans breakfast) we shopped and shopped. Every gift we bought was thought a lot about, some things were put on hold in case we found something better and then we would return and pick it up if we decided it was our favorite. We stopped at Janie and Jack ( a children’s clothing store) and I think the word cute was said at least 1000 times in the 45 min we spent there.

For lunch we went to Neiman Marcus, it’s a San Fran tradition. Let me take a moment to describe what my mother and I are wearing…I am in jeans that I have been wearing for 3 day’s and they are getting pretty sad looking, I have on a t- shirt and a cardigan that’s sleeves have bagged out . I am sporting my old running shoes (comfort first) and I am carrying a tiny PLASTIC Macys bag. My mom is wearing some Nike capries and her hefty walking sandals a dress shirt (she looks better then I do, but not much). The reason I mention this is because Neiman Marcus is sort of fancy and has I sit there waiting for a table I marvel at all the statuesque beauties in there designer closes with their designer bags. To make matters worse I order a hamburger the ladies at the next table are all eating salads and as I dip my French fries into my ketchup I am feeling a little trashy. But luckily my mom and I start laughing historically at all of this, and I am glad I am not fancy but that (like my mother) I am a relaxed person with great ability to laugh at myself.

But now that we are on the subject of how my mom and I looked while we were shopping, can I just say …we got no respect. While shopping for shoes my mom and I both had our arms full of shoes, and no one would help us. I am shore they were “thinking those frumpy ladies won’t be buying very many, but they are going to want to try on everything”. At Bloomingdales I had upset stomach and had to find a bathroom…only a really trashy lady would have diarrhea in a Bloomingdales ….needless to say we got no respect there either. We ended our day at 8:00 pm…..we had shopped for 10 hours!!! But we got a lot done. The next day was the same another 10 hours of shopping. Then on Saturday we wondered around Fillmore and Union looking in all the little shops (again getting no respect) we had lunch at a Chinese restaurant and then caught our plane.

It defiantly wasn’t a vacation….but I had a great time with my mother. I love her more than words can say. She is so thoughtful in her gift giving it shows how much she cares about all of the people in her life. I learn from her every day…..oh and I lost 2 lbs, I guess just eating lunch has its plusses.

The new house

So I moved, you all seemed interested in hearing about it so I will tell you.......I moved to a far away place called, Orem. Yes I know that's only about 7 min from were I lived before but to my family it's like I moved to Alaska or China. Though those 7 min to make a big difference, my kids no longer go to school with 6 of there cousins. I can no longer call Maryann or Diana when I need someone to pick up my boys in a pinch. No one stops by any longer....which is a good thing and a bad thing. I have to say that when my mother would stop by at nine a clock in the morning and my house was a mess and I was a mess...it was not my favorite thing. But when she would come by at 2:00 and take my kids for a little while...I did enjoy that.

Well back to the house...we looked at this house about 3 yrs ago when we first moved back to Utah. We loved it but decided to wait.....when we started to look again at the beginning of this summer the house was still on the market but had been remodeled a bit. They had updated the kitchen a little and re carpeted and painted the inside with some terrible colors. So when we bought it the first thing to do was repaint and put in a new master bathroom......my dream room, the thing I have been waiting for. I LOVE baths, and in our old house there was no real tub, and I shared the bathroom with three kids so it was always disgusting, but not my new one. I love it, it's a dream come true! I had a lot of fun with my house....picking out the colors was the funnest and the most stress full thing. I thought you might want a peek so here are some of my favorite room and some of the most crazy colors..
this is my bathtub.......oohhh the joy! The wall paper and the tile in the bathroom are my favorite things about my new house.
My purple master bedroom......I have the best, most secure husband ever! You can't see it but in the corner I have a black and white floral chair....it almost pushed him over the edge.
My aqua carpet in the formal living room is also something I love. I was so scared to do this, but when they put it in I loved it and I could breath again. We are still waiting for a chair and some accessories but when it's all done it will be FAB.
The previous owners had this poo brown paint in the basement with an even darker poopier trim.....the candy apple green brightened things up a bit don't you think.
Paul's office......I let him do what he wanted in there, it was my compromise for my purple bedroom.
Grace and Nick want me to show you their rooms....

Here is the Princess' bedroom...Pink, pink, pink.....she has a loft and a little hidden room and her very own bathroom. Oh the joys of being the only girl.
Nicks room is not quite finished..but I had the contractors put a little shelf trim around his room, because nick like to collect nick knacks and he needs a place to put them.

Jonas wanted RED and boy did he get it! We are putting a big black and white print of NYC on his wall above his head to break up some of the red......but the room is totally Jonas.

Well that's the house. I love it, and I can't wait to make it my home.

HELP!!!!

So I know I need to update my blog, but so much has happened I don't know were to start. I've moved, we celebrated Halloween (to busy to take pictures), we had a big party, I went on a trip with my mom, and my kids have started a new school. I am only prepared to write about one or 2 of these events.....tell me which one you would like to here about, or maybe you think I am to lazy to be a blogger ( your probably right) but feel free to tell me that too. Just give me a place to start and maybe I will get inspired. And if nobody responds I will take it has a hint and stop blogging all together.